OBSERVATIONS / RECOLLECTIONS / STORIES

Time Flies

If you admire people who master a second language, as I do, you’ll surely be impressed by Frank Roger.

Born Frank Roger Florimond De Cuyper in 1957 in Ghent, Belgium, he majored in English at the University of Ghent. His career as an author began in 1975. By the 1980s, he was writing fiction in English and translating his work into French.

That was just the beginning. At last count, he has published over 800 short stories (plus a few novels) in 38 languages. His work is quite varied — sci-fi, fantasy, satire, surrealism, black humor.

In addition to his writing, he makes collages and graphics of a surrealist and satirical nature. Where, I’d like to know, does he find the time?

Speaking of time, consider this gem of a short story…

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Catch a Last Breath

By Frank RogerPublished in 2007

“If this experiment is successful,” Dr. Williams explained, “its outcome will revolutionise our notion of time, our grasp of the very nature of the universe and our place in it. We will be writing history. Shall I?”

His assistants merely nodded. Dr. Williams hit the enter key on his keyboard and sat back.

“There we go,” he said. “We should feel the effects of the experiment within moments.”

“What exactly do you expect?” his principal assistant asked.

“There’s no way to know,” Dr. Williams patiently replied. “As you know, we are changing the nature of time. We are speeding up time by chopping off a bit of every minute, if you allow me to put it unscientifically. Time is now running in segments that grow increasingly shorter. It will be fascinating to see how we will experience this effect.”

They all waited a few moments, but nothing seemed to happen. Dr. Williams finally broke the silence by saying:

“The change we introduced in the fabric of time is gaining momentum. Soon we will…”

The assistants shot him a worried look. Why had Dr. Williams left his last phrase uncompleted? That was very much unlike him. One of them chose to ask a question.

“Dr. Williams, isn’t it possible that we fail to experience any effects for the simple reason that we…”

“I think that we are just starting to experience the effect this experiment has on…”